by Lili Lam
Lise's POV
It was pitch black outside as I sat by the window staring up into the vast horizon. A few stars twinkled against the dark night sky making it seem so peaceful. I closed my eyes and prayed that Tristan's out there somewhere and that he's coming for me.
Having slept all afternoon and most of the evening, I spent most of the night awake trying to shake off the effects of the black ice. I even took a quick shower, which woke me up even more. In another hour or so, dawn would be upon us.
Marco hasn't been back since checking on me earlier and I wondered what had him so occupied? This is the longest he's gone without coming back to inject me with black ice, something's got to be up.
I was moving around freely now, having regained use of my body. However, I still couldn't mindlink anyone. Hope black ice doesn't have a long term effect and that it's only temporary. I still felt a bit groggy and couldn't shift, but I was able to get up and walk around the room without crawling around on my knees.
A sudden rattling at the door caused me to jump from my place at the window and dive onto the bed. I watched with a half lidded eyes as Marco hastily rushed into the room, locking it behind him. "Princesa, Analia get up." He uttered in a hushed whisper while shaking my arm demandingly.
The sense of urgency in his voice had my eyes snapping open to stare up at him in fear. Why did he out of all people sound scared? He's the one orchestrating this entire kidnapping, isn't he. What's he possibly in fear of?
"Wh-what's going on?" I stuttered as my heart began beating at an accelerated pace. I could hear the swooshing in my ears as I began panicking. Either he's planning on moving me elsewhere because the guys are coming to get me or he knows I was pretending to sleep earlier.
"I need to get you out of here. My mother's caught wind that Tristan and the Manzanares are coming for you. She thinks killing you will end all this trouble." Marco's deep voice had an undertone of regret in it. "I won't let her hurt you. I should've never listened to her. You don't belong to me."
It was almost as though he was sorry for involving me. What's going on here? I'm so confused, Marco wants to help me? Wasn't it his idea to take me in the first place? "We need to hurry." Marco sounded frantic, helping me up from the bed to stand. He led me quietly towards the door, poking his head out the door before swooping me into his arms bridal style.
Before I knew it we were out the back door and Marco was off running at full speed into the woods surround his pack house. During the run I felt the need to confess what Mia told me. "She forgives you...you know." I breathed out causing Marco to stop completely, almost dropping me on the ground.
His eyes bore into the side of my face as a look of understanding washed over his expression. "She came to me. Mia came to me." My voice shook as I admitted it out loud, hoping he doesn't look at me as if I was insane. Then again, we'll be in the same boat.
"Thank you, I needed to hear that." Marco nodded his head in understanding, his eyes tearing up a bit before he advised me what to do next. "We need to shift. I'll run across to the next territory until we reach the start of the Manzanares land, but that's as far as I can take you."
Does Marco have multiple personality disorder? Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for his sudden change of heart, but how do I know I'm not being set up? If he isn't setting me up I'll be sure to get him the best psychological help I can find and that's a promise.
We shifted together and ran through the neighboring territory, as we got midway through we became surrounded by wolves. Some of the wolves were strangers, a few I recognized as members of my own pack, others my friends.
‘They came for me.’ Is all that crossed my mind, the next thing occurred in slow motion as Tristan came charging out of nowhere along with Rico and Alonso. The three of them together collectively pounced on top of Marco in a fit of rage, snarling and snapping at him viciously. He didn't stand a chance.
'No...no...no, you're killing him!' I screamed out in my mind praying they'd hear me, but it was to no avail. They kept on attacking and the sad part of it all was that Marco wasn't even fighting back. Doing the only thing I could think of, I shifted into human form and threw myself down on top of Marco's limp and bloodied wolf screaming. "Leave him alone!"
"Lise baby, what're you doing? Get away from him!" Tristan snarled standing stark naked in human form. His chest heaving up and down in anger as he glared at me shielding the enemy. Shaking my head vigorously I managed to breathe out a 'No'.
Turning my attention back, I stared down at Marco with tears trailing from my eyes. Yes, he kidnapped me and injected me with black ice, but I think it was all at the hands of his mother. Deep down inside there's got to be a good person. He did help me escape after all. I couldn't feel his heart beating under my body, nor could I see the rising and falling of his chest from breathing. Please don't tell me it's too late for him, please tell me there's still hope.
Chapter 7: Redemption
